


three times maggie is alex’s gaydar and the one time they’re both blindsided

by flyler



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 18:25:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15079001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyler/pseuds/flyler
Summary: alex is talented at many things. pinging someone as gay or same-gender attracted is not one of them.





	three times maggie is alex’s gaydar and the one time they’re both blindsided

**Author's Note:**

> wow, two fics in one week... i'm on a roll
> 
> PLEASE READ: in this particular oneshot, jeremiah will be mentioned. he's just dead. that cadmus shit never happened. it hasn't been addressed for over a season at this point, so, who cares? not me. j'onn is alex's real dad anyways.
> 
> enjoy!

i.

 

The first time they talk about anything “gaydar”, they’re at a bar, a gay bar, and sipping scotch while Alex peruses the people around her. It’s been a few weeks since Alex kissed Maggie in that alien bar and ended up sobbing on her sister’s shoulder not long after, but after Maggie stopped by Kara’s apartment, they’ve been playing pool once a week or so.

 

Alex told Maggie she wanted a change of scenery; she didn’t really mean a bar where other women would hit on her, but she doesn’t know exactly how to break that to Maggie without admitting the still large and very lesbian crush she has on the woman.

 

“Oh, hey,” Maggie points out, jerking her thumb discreetly. “The blonde woman in red is staring at you.”

 

Alex tries not to be obvious, but if she looks in her peripherals, there’s a woman that fits Maggie’s description giving her a few glances. Alex doesn’t see any reason why the woman would be looking at _her_ , first off― maybe she’s looking at Maggie― but then a man walks up to her and it clicks.

 

“Not really my type,” Alex says. “She looks a little… feminine. That guy’s not her boyfriend?”

 

Maggie laughs. “The one in spandex? Nah, don’t think so.”

 

Catching Maggie’s drift, Alex shrugs. “Okay, well, _sorr-ee_ I don’t assume people are gay over stereotypes.” There’s no malice in her voice.

 

“It’s not really stereotypes,” Maggie says. “I mean, sure, maybe a little bit of it is, but there’s a difference between _us_ getting the vibes from someone and a straight person going off of experiences that aren’t theirs. For example, sure, maybe a straight person would be able to deduce a man in spandex is gay, but that woman,” Maggie nods in the general direction of the blonde from earlier, “she’s _got_ to be at least lipstick or femme.”

 

When Alex raises her eyebrows at Maggie, clueless, Maggie continues. “Like, y’know, lesbians can be ‘feminine’, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with being butch, there _definitely_ isn’t,” Maggie says, a dark glint in her eye, “but lipstick or femme are like the other side of the coin. I don’t identify with any of those labels myself, but from what I’ve been told, it’s the idea that you dress like that for _women_ , not for men. It’s still gender non-conforming, in a way. Even girls who _are_ attracted to men do things in a way straight girls don’t. Maybe not in the way someone who isn’t gay themselves would see it, but if you learn the right cues and have a good gaydar, you can spot them.”

 

“Okay. I think I get it.” Alex nods. “So… I’m assuming we can use gaydar?”

 

“Yeah, sure. Maybe not in casual conversation with someone who wouldn’t get it like we do, but in this sort of environment? Why not.” There’s a pause. “Gonna do anything about her, though? If you don’t go up soon, she’ll lose interest.”

 

“Let her.” Alex stirs the little straw her drink came with and finds comfort in the sensory stimulation that’s bumping half-melted ice cubes together. “She really isn’t my type, anyway.”

 

―――――

 

ii.

 

They’ve been dating for a few months now. Alex still comes to work giddy and tells Kara about what she did with Maggie the night before (after a while, it starts to become more censored, and Alex knows when to curve the conversation because Kara loves to plug her ears and dramatically blabber anytime Alex mentions anything sexual, but the sentiment remains).

 

Maggie even has a Level 2 clearance already. Not enough to know all that’s going on with Cadmus, or the organization’s other deep secrets, but enough to know the simple day-to-day cases they work (and sometimes partner with the NCPD on) and bring Alex lunch, because most of the time, Alex forgets. And ever since Maggie found out Kara was Supergirl, Maggie’s been finding mostly 20 dollar bills every couple of days under the houseplant she keeps next to her apartment door, and she knows it’s not Alex because Alex would be the type to just pay her in person, so sometimes Maggie makes sure to get three meals: one for Alex, one for her, and one of the many Kara will receive that day.

 

This time, she’s brought pastrami from one of their favorite delis (it crosses Maggie’s mind that they’ve been together long enough to finally have favorite things _together_ , and it makes her feel warm inside). Alex is currently working in her lab, not many life threatening alien attacks going on at the moment, and she’s enraptured enough in her work that it takes Maggie gently tapping her shoulder for Alex to startle out of the deep enigma Maggie’s sure constitutes as Alex’s brain.

 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Maggie asks, after Alex’s heart rate seems to visibly slow down and her face goes from shock to its normal smiley, wow-I-have-a-girlfriend expression she wears when she’s in close enough proximity with Maggie. And Maggie’s _definitely_ noticed it’s a her-only expression, and Maggie wouldn’t exchange it for anything in the perceivable universe.

 

“Just my work.” A beat, and then Alex sighs. “Also, I think Agent Humphrey is hitting on me.”

 

“Hitting on you?” Maggie asks. “How?”

 

“He just seems really enthusiastic around me, in a puppy-crush sort of way. Usually when the rookie agents get crushes on me,” Alex says, and Maggie thinks _of course_ Alex _is the person to be saying this sort of thing casually,_  “they don’t really do anything other than follow me around and mope when I don’t do anything. But he’s told me of restaurants he said ‘fit my style’ and offered to take me to them? And one time he caught me leaving in casual wear and told me a store he’d recommend I try out.”

 

“Where is he?” Maggie says. “I’ll show him you’re taken.”

 

“Oh, he usually tries and takes the overnight and early morning shift, so he’s already left. He might be in tomorrow though.”

 

“Hmm.” Maggie had some thinking to do.

 

It’s not until a few days later that Maggie has enough of the morning off to give the DEO a visit, but she sees Alex talking to a shorter young man. She can see the guy speaking exuberantly, and Alex seems to be in a little bit of a bind. Maggie knows the only person Alex can truly stand to hold a conversation with that has that much enthusiasm flowing through their veins is her own sister, so Maggie decides to step in.

 

“Hey there!” she says, and steps into the conversation, standing beside Alex, who balks. “I’m Maggie Sawyer, detective at NCPD. And you?”

 

“Agent Humphrey, ma’am!” The agent holds out his hand, and Maggie firmly shakes it. “I was just telling Agent Danvers here about a cool lasagna recipe I found on Pinterest a few days ago. I’ve heard her mention how much she likes Italian, so…”

 

Maggie tries not to laugh. Yeah, Alex has nothing to worry about, she thinks, as she notices the way this agent carries himself, the way he speaks so confidently, but not forcefully, the way he’s holding what she assumed to be a DEO-issued, all black backpack that has a rainbow pride pin stuck to it.

 

“Yeah?” Maggie says. “Tell me all about it.”

 

The topic changes from that, to the new Avengers movie that came out (inaccurate, Alex says, but Maggie just wonders _how_ Alex can’t notice the way this agent talks about Chris Hemsworth) and to cheap household cleaners before Winn calls out Agent Humphrey’s name and the young agent goes scurrying away with a, “Sorry, gotta go, but it was nice to meet you!”

 

When he’s gone, Alex motions her hands in the direction of the way the agent ran, an unspoken _See?_

 

“Yeah, no, Alex, hon… he wasn’t hitting on you. Even without a gaydar, he had a rainbow pin on his backpack, babe.”

 

Alex looks nervously over. “He could still be bi.”

 

“Even if he is, I think he’s just happy to live every day as he wants, and he’s a chatterbox. You’re just not a good conversation holder.”

 

“W-What?!” Alex crosses her arms. “I am too! We talk all the time! And Kara. And J’onn. And Winn...”

 

Maggie shakes her head. “People you’re close with don’t count. Also, even with us, in particular, most of our private conversations, no matter the topic, seem to end up in be―”

 

Alex covers Maggie’s mouth, mouthing ‘Kara!’ before letting her hand off Maggie, who stays silent when Alex puts her hand back down. “Okay, okay, I get it. I just feel bad, you know? Even if he just admires me in a non-romantic way, I don’t want to squash the sunshine out of him. God knows that happens here way too many times, with the type of shit we see go on here almost every day.”

 

Maggie gets a solemn look, knowing exactly what Alex means, working in the alien division of the police department, before an idea starts to grow and she perks up. “Hey, Alex? Speaking of your super hearing alien of a sister and sunshine, I bet Kara’s the exact type of person to be able to not only keep up with Agent Humphrey’s temperament and conversations, but enjoy it, too…”

 

Alex gets a glint in her eye that shows she knows exactly what Maggie’s thinking. Wasting no time, she marches up to Winn’s computer desk, where he and Humphrey are still talking, and when she eavesdrops enough to know it’s not breaking information, says, “Excuse me, can I steal Agent Humphrey for a minute? I think there’s someone who would _love_ to hear his lasagna recipes…”

 

―――――

 

iii.

 

Alex has just gotten home from a new collaboration project with L-Corp when it comes up. Maggie has made stir fry and they’re eating it on the couch, some rerun of a Full House type family show on late night television as white noise playing in the background.

 

“Lena’s _always_ going out to lunch with Kara,” Alex says through a mouthful of food. “I’m worried Kara has been careless enough to leave so many times Lena’s figured out she’s Supergirl. Lena ended up coming back to the lab today because Kara couldn’t show at the last minute and, man, she looked utterly dejected.”

 

“Sounds like Lena has a crush on your little sister,” Maggie says, and Alex chokes on her food.

 

“No. She’s not…”

 

Maggie raises an eyebrow.

 

“ _Is_ she? Maggie, you’ve met her, like, three times. Your gaydar can’t be _that_ good.”

 

“Oh, I’m not relying completely on my gaydar here.” Maggie laughs. “Pride. 2014. She was part of the Dykes on Bikes.”

 

Alex’s eyes widen. “ _What?_ ”

 

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure her stickler of a mom got super pissed about it. Can’t say I was complaining at the time. A topless Lena Luthor…” Maggie draws out a low whistle, and Alex frowns. “Not that it beats you topless, baby.”

 

Alex harrumphs, her tone playful. “Sure it doesn’t.”

 

“It does, trust me.” Maggie slowly reaches out to start playing with the button that adorns the collar of Alex’s navy henley. “You know…”

 

“Know what?” Alex says, propping her elbow on the top of the couch so she has her head in one hand and a bowl of stir fry in the other, and Maggie’s glaring at her, knowing Alex knows what the unspoken question is. “I don’t know what you’re saying. You’re going to have to use your words.”

 

“I think,” Maggie says, “that this will taste just as nicely when it’s leftovers.”

 

“Oh? Get the tupperware, then.”

 

Tupperware had never sounded so sexy to Maggie than in that very moment.

 

―――――

  


Eliza’s come by National City for a surprise weekend visit, and Alex is busy cleaning her apartment because _stupid_ Kara’s excuse of “I have like no windows because I tried flying while sleepy and forgot the balcony was closed and I don’t want Eliza finding out” means Alex gets to host her mother. Great.

 

Maggie’s helping a little bit, mostly clearing out the small guest room Alex’s open floor plan manages to have, but mostly staying out of the way because she loves her girlfriend, but Alex gets a little snappy when having to clean due to her mother coming in a few hours.

 

She’d realized that when she’d joked, “Hey, good thing Eliza takes the human way and drives instead of having Kara carry her and be here in just a few minutes,” and Alex had almost pulled her hair out.

 

Maggie’s mainly on what she’s dubbed Comfort Patrol now. Making sure soothing music is playing in the background, baking a batch of cookies in the oven so it smells nice, fluffing the pillows in the guest bedroom, that sort of thing. As time goes by, Alex seems to calm down, and Maggie has her lie on the huge master bed while Maggie takes the kinks out of her shoulders and back.

 

“You’re literally the best girlfriend ever,” Alex says, her voice muffled from being facedown in the bed.

 

“I know,” Maggie says, a bit of smugness detected in her tone, and she can tell how anxious Alex is when, instead of giving a teasing response back, just takes her hand and squeezes it.

 

Maggie knows Eliza and Alex have a complicated relationship, and it’s gotten exponentially better in the last year or so (enough to where Alex put all of their liquor in the back cabinet without even a suggestion from anyone else), but Maggie gets why Alex is nervous after years of enduring miscommunication and a bad relationship. Even if they’re patching it up, it can be hard to not think about what would go wrong. Maggie loves every part that makes up Alex, even the parts that make her a worrywart.

 

Sometimes, especially those parts.

 

They get a warning before Eliza comes over, Kara sending a text to Alex when they’re about ten minutes out. When there’s a knock on the apartment door, Alex jumps slightly, and Maggie comfortingly pats her on the back before going to open the door herself. They’re practically living together at this point, her own apartment collecting dust across town, so Eliza and Kara don’t seemed too surprised when it’s Maggie opening the door.

 

“Hey,” Maggie says, seeing Eliza holding her purse, looking a little weary, and Kara practically bouncing on her feet with Eliza’s suitcase in hand. “Alex is back in the kitchen.”

 

“I know she must be frazzled. I hate coming over in such short notice, but the lab back home had some electrical problems they needed to fix, so we all got a few days off. I wanted to come here.” Eliza smiles and gives Maggie a side hug, the soft but not frail kind you always get from aging women, one where she momentarily rubs Maggie’s back with the back of her palm before letting go.

 

“Hi, Mom.” Alex comes out from behind the countertop to hug Eliza full on, both arms. “How was the trip down?”

 

“I’d have appreciated listening to something other than boy bands on the way,” Eliza says, giving a teasing look to Kara, who shrugs as to say _What did you expect from me?_ , “but it was fine. I’m sorry to put you out like this. I don’t know why Kara’s place wouldn’t work.”

 

Kara gives a toothful grimace when Eliza isn’t looking, and Alex in a deadbeat tone, “Who knows.” Her tone then grows softer. “I’m glad you’re here, though, even if I was a bit surprised. Maggie and I were thinking we could have pizza and potstickers and have a bit of a family night. Is that okay?”

 

“Yes!” Kara says, and Alex gives her a look as to say _I was asking Mom_ , but Eliza nods in confirmation.

 

“That’d be great.”

  
  
  


Maggie knew Alex and Kara were a team to be feared of, whether they were the Danvers sisters playing Pictionary, or Agent Danvers and Supergirl battling intergalactic villains, but Maggie has come to realize that the two of them are nothing compared to the _three_ of them.

 

She sees so much of Alex in Eliza, especially. It’s the… _intensity_ of everything. Eliza is a little more subdued with age, but Maggie can see how Alex is so hard and fast but passionate about everything she’s involved in. Maggie listens rather than speaks, because she loves watching them interact. Anytime Alex seems a bit off, Maggie moves to touch the small of her back that’s resting on the back of the couch, or lean on her shoulder, something to distract Alex for just a second to regain her thoughts.

 

The mannerisms, the biting sarcasm at just the right moments, they’re all the same. Maggie can see Alex’s nose and cheekbones in Eliza. She wonders if Alex will grow to have the same crow’s feet and distinct forehead crinkles as her mother, she wonders if Alex’s hair will grow to be gray, or white, or maybe some salt and pepper, she wonders what Alex will look like in thirty years, and oh, god, does Maggie pray to whatever deity is out there that she’ll be able to witness the gradual change firsthand.

 

“Wow, Kara,” Alex comments. “Only one pizza pie? Usually you have at least two.”

 

“I ate with Lena before this,” Kara admits, blushing.

 

Oh, and Maggie can’t help but get in on _that_. “Really? You seem to have a lot of dates with her, you know.”

 

Alex gives Maggie a dirty look, but Kara is too busy becoming more flustered and fiddling with her glasses to notice. “Oh, I wouldn’t call them dates, necessarily…”

 

“Does she pay for all of them?”

 

Kara mumbles, “She never lets me pay because she says she has a ton of money, anyway…”

 

“You know, when Alex and I started dating, I’d always pay for our meals,” Maggie quips, and Kara groans.

 

“To be fair,” Alex says,  “I always won at pool. Once we started going other places and going more often, I’d help pay, too.”

 

“You know, back in college, Sarah and I would always carry Rubix cubes on us and whoever was the first to solve got to pay,” Eliza says, and while Maggie’s eyes widen in surprise, Alex just rolls her eyes.

 

“C’mon, Mom, we’re trying to convince Kara and Lena to date _romantically_ here, not reminisce about your college friend.”

 

“I know.” Eliza takes a sip of the herbal tea she’d been holding in her hands, and while Alex sits and stares in shock, Maggie starts cackling, being forced to rest her forehead on the side of the couch and stick her mouth into the crook of her elbow to muffle the sound.

 

Alex swivels her head to Maggie. “Stop that. I bet you called this, too, didn’t you?”

 

It takes a few seconds for Maggie to sit up and answering without snickering, but she shakes her head. “Nope. Had absolutely no idea. I was completely blindsided.”

 

“Hmph, whatever you say.” Alex turns back to her mother. “So… you _dated_ Sarah? You never told me!”

 

“I thought I’d make it obvious. But, then again,” Eliza sighs, “it took you awhile to realize those things about yourself, so I guess I can only blame myself.”

 

“So, like, what are you, then?” Kara asks, and then inhales quickly. “That sounds really weird! You know what I mean… like what’s your label?”

 

“Well, back when I was in college and involved in all the activism, the labels and name and community worked a lot differently than it does now. Not in a bad way, just a different one. I think, by today’s labels, I’d be bisexual, but I’d really just enjoy who I wanted to without thinking of what type of relationship it’d end up being.” Eliza shrugs. “I haven’t thought of it in a while, after your father.”

 

“So are you going to start dating again?” Alex blurts out, and then blushes when Kara snorts from Alex’s bluntness.

 

Eliza only smiles, but there’s a teasing element to it, causing Alex to clear her throat. “I don’t know,” Eliza says, “I feel a little too old for that.”

 

“Oh, c’mon, Miss Danve― Eliza.” Maggie corrects herself when she sees the look Eliza gives her. “You’re never too old to date. There’s plenty of dating apps out there for… y’know, people over 50.”

 

“Maybe, but I just think what I had with Jeremiah isn’t something I could hope for in anyone else, and I’m really too involved in work and family to try and reach out in that direction at the moment. But enough about me,” Eliza says. “Kara, I think we’re going to have to pick your brain here on what else Miss Luthor has done to quite possibly tell you she’s into you...”

**Author's Note:**

> GIVE ELIZA DANVERS A GIRLFRIEND.


End file.
